Mysterious Ways
by Gilraen Iathrim
Summary: As Katie finds herself thrown out from her boyfriend's house and moves in with her friend Jenny, some strange events begin. She befriends Annie, a person no one else seems to see, and finds herself slowly falling for the mysterious and dark Mitchell. Can the werewolf, the vampire and the ghost continue to keep their true identities a secret when a human suddenly move in?
1. Prologue: Questions without answers

**Prologue: Questions without answers**

"Get out of here! Your presence is not wanted." The man's bright eyes burned into hers, as he pushed her out the door. She stared back up at him, her face carrying only shock and grief over what he was doing to her.

"Tom..." She tried to make herself heard, but he merely slammed the door shut in her face, leaving her standing on the street outside what had been her home five minutes earlier. The only home she had had for the past three years.

Drying the angry tears off of her cheeks, she picked up her hastily packed bags and set off down the street. The neighbours' confused and judging gazes burned into her back and she kept her head down. She did not want them to see her tears, sense her anger and laugh at her humiliation. For she knew they would notice all of that anyway and then stand in their usual groups and laugh at her when she was gone. Laugh at how stupid she had been for thinking she would be made for a life with someone like Tom. Her boyfriend... No, ex-boyfriend from now on, had always been too demanding of her and such a control freak. And now, after getting mad at her for not doing what he wanted again, she was out on the street without a home.

Katie sighed and ran a hand through her long, brown hair. What was she going to do now? The majority of what she owned was in her hands and the rest she had to pick up before Tom threw it away. So she had to find a place to stay. And that fast.

"Thank you for meeting me." Katie smiled towards the woman opposite from her. She warmed her hands on the teacup as her eyes took in the little café. "I just... needed to talk." Her friend nodded and smiled softly.

"Of course, I understand. Don't worry about it." Jenny brought her own cup to her lips and took a sip of her coffee. "What actually happened, though?" She frowned, meeting the eyes of her friend.

Katie sighed, her eyes turning to the beverage in her cup. She had already relived what had happened in her head too many times and she did not need it again.

"Tom got mad about... something. I'm not exactly sure about what, actually. I never are when it comes to him and his rage attacks." She took a sip of her tea before continuing. "He started going on about how useless I am and how much I always disappoint him by not being who he want me to be. I just had enough of that and decided to head out to get some time to think. He wouldn't have that, though and told me to leave for good instead. I just had the time to get some things together before he threw me out." She sighed again, her eyes turning to the street outside. It was raining. The world seemed to be taking on her grey feelings. "I will have to go back there and get the rest of my things, though. He said I had until Friday afternoon."

"I can't believe he would do something like that. He always seemed so nice and caring when it came to you." Jenny raised her eyebrows in surprise over what she had just heard, and Katie shook her head slowly.

"He always was like that. He put on an act before everyone else, but at home he could be in a terrible mood all the time. I should have guessed it would end like that." Katie leaned back in her chair, her eyes sadly travelling over her bags on the floor.

"You know what? I will call Danielle and we will have a girls' night tonight. My place. Where you are to stay, by the way. Alex won't mind, I promise." Jenny met her friend's gaze and smiled. "We will pick your things up now and then you will never have to see that jerk again." She gripped Katie's hand tightly and rose from the table. "Come on, let's get it over with."

Her friend smiled sadly, tears slowly forming in her eyes by the thankfulness she carried. Without Jenny, she wouldn't know what to do in life.

"Looks like someone is moving in." Annie stood in the window of the house, her eyes looking across the street towards a house further down.

"And you want to come where with that?" Mitchell looked up from the sofa, where he lay, his eyes glued to the TV. "People move out and in every day." He sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. Sometimes Annie obsessed too much with people's every day business.

"But this is someone moving into an already inhabited house", Annie protested, throwing a frustrated look towards her friend. Sometimes Mitchell just didn't understand.

"So? It's nothing special, still." The vampire sighed deeply again and leaned his head against the backrest of the sofa.

The ghost in the window rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. Even though Mitchell might not find it interesting, she did. It didn't matter what he thought.

"I wish I could go out and say hi." She thought for a moment, a small smile rising on her lips.

"Well, you can." Mitchell rose, smiling carefully back as he headed towards the kitchen.

"No, I can't." Annie followed him, frustrated. "They wouldn't see me, remember?"

"Well, some people do actually see you. What if it's one of them?" Her friend shot her a quick look, before he opened the fridge to take out a beer.

"But what if it's not? Or one of them see me and the other don't? What do I do then?" Annie stomped her foot in the floor, a jar on a shelf rattling dangerously.

"Hey, take it easy." Mitchell took a sip from his beer. "It's no biggie."

"It is for me!" Annie ran a hand through her hair and leaned against the doorframe. "Why can't you come with me and introduce yourself? And if they see me I can just say hi to them?" The idea made her face lit up in a smile once more, and Mitchell sighed.

"No, I don't feel like it. Get George to do it if you're so desperate." He headed back into the next room, not noticing the grumpy look on Annie's face.

"George is not home. It has to be you." Annie tugged at his arm. "Come on, just this once. We don't have to be there long. We can just say hi and see if they need any help with anything. Then we can just leave again. Please?" She pouted slightly and Mitchell closed his eyes for a moment, hating her stubbornness.

"All right. But just really quickly." He put the beer down on the table and grabbed his jacket. "Come on then." He pulled the door open and stepped outside, his eyes finding the two young women across the road immediately. This was a stupid idea.

Katie had just stepped out of Jenny's car, when she saw the woman in the window. She was not sure what made her notice her, but something about her made her eyes get drawn to the window in a house a little way up the street.

An eerie feeling settled in her stomach as she watched the woman, who carried a small smile on her lips. She made no sign that she had seen her standing there, but Katie was sure she had and that this was why she was smiling.

Shivering, she turned her back and started to unload the car together with her friend. She could not start to worry about the neighbours this early into it all.

"Who lives there?" She nodded towards the house, as Jenny gave her a box to carry.

"Oh, I'm not sure actually. Two guys, I believe. I have seen them sometimes. I think they work down at the hospital. Not sure, though." Jenny shrugged her shoulders, showing that she obviously didn't care.

"Only two guys? No woman, then?" Katie followed her friend up the small path towards her own house, her brow knitted in thought.

"Not that I know of, no. I know one of them had a girlfriend a while back, though, but I'm not sure if that's still going on." Jenny pushed the door opened and stepped to the side to let her friend inside. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason." Katie flickered her friend a quick smile, as she set down the box and then headed back towards the car in a quick pace to fetch the next, while Jenny carried the first one upstairs and prepared the house.

Having a few moments in solitude was somewhat calming. She had felt such an urge to talk to someone after the incident, but now, after doing nothing but talking, she was glad Jenny had left her alone for a bit.

Unloading the few boxes and bags she had from the car, and putting them into the hall of the house she was now to live in, her mind was occupied by other things.

She had tried so hard to understand why Tom had done what he had done, but now she had finally figured it out. He had never loved her the way she thought he had. He had only wanted someone that he could easily control. Someone that he could force into doing the things he didn't want to do.

The thought of it now disgusted her slightly.

Footsteps on the pavement behind her, caused her to turn as she had just closed the car after taking out the last box.

From the house she had noticed earlier came two people, a man and a woman, towards her. The man, being a little taller than her, had brown eyes, dark enough for her to be unable to read anything out of them, and dark curly hair, hanging about his face.

The woman was about the same height as herself, with a friendly smile on her lips under a pair of sparkling eyes and wild, dark-brown hair.

"Hello." Katie smiled hesitantly, not entirely sure if they were actually interested in greeting her.

"Hi." The man flickered her a quick smile, his eyes examining her face. It was something about him that both made her skin crawl and her heart to skip a beat. And she was not sure why. "I'm Mitchell. I live right across the street." He nodded back towards the house he had exited, as the woman next to him nodded excitedly.

"And I'm Annie. I live there too, actually." The woman stretched a hand forward, while smiling happily.

"Nice meeting you, Annie. Mitchell." Katie shook her hand, balancing the box on her hip, and nodded towards the man. He did not seem very keen on shaking her hand, at least. "I'm Katie. Katie Bryce." She was not entirely sure why she included her last name into it all, but she could not seem to control her tongue. Something about the two, especially Mitchell, made her feel all giddy inside. She did not like it.

"So, are you moving in?" Annie looked curiously at her and the box, before directing her eyes to the house.

"Well, sort of." She shrugged her shoulders. "I am to stay here for a while until I have found an apartment of my own, at least."

"Oh? What happened?" The other woman smiled kindly and met her gaze.

Katie opened her mouth to speak, but something kept her from uttering a word. She could not have herself to tell these two strangers of what had happened to her. She supposed no one actually spoke of their massive heartbreak to someone they had just met.

"I just... found myself without a home very suddenly and Jenny offered me a place to stay." She nodded towards the house, where her friend had just appeared in the doorway.

"Oh, hello there." Jenny smiled as she joined her younger friend. "And who may you be? I'm Jenny." Her eyes was turned to Mitchell, and to Katie it seemed as if she didn't even notice Annie standing there. She frowned. What was her friend playing at?

"Oh, this is Mitchell and..." She was broken off by Mitchell sending her a warning look, his dark eyes burning into hers, telling her not to say any more. She did not know why he did it, and why she actually listened, but she pressed her lips together and turned her eyes away. What was going on?

"Yeah, I'm from across the street there. It's nice meeting you, Jenny." The most honest smile Mitchell had produced since he and Annie had come over, passed over his lips, and Katie frowned. What was he doing?

"It's nice meeting you too." Jenny nodded towards him. "Let me take this for you, Katie, and I will go inside. See you in a bit." She took the box from her friend, and flickered her a meaning smile, before she headed back inside, leaving Katie standing there awkwardly.

"I... um." She looked up at Mitchell, her brow knitted heavily in thought as she looked at him.

"Don't even ask about what just happened. It's better if you don't know. Never speak of it, either." His smile was now gone and he took a step closer to her, his dark eyes burning once more by a dark flame.

"But what happened? Why didn't she notice Annie?" She took a step back from him, the confusion and fear written across her face as he gripped her wrist tightly, keeping her from escaping.

"Don't ask questions, do you understand? Don't speak of it." His eyes had been dark before, but now, suddenly, they turned black as night, while his voice was no more than an angry growl.

"Mitchell..." Annie's voice rung out behind them, causing the man to release his grip and quickly step back, his breathing shallow and hard. "There is no need for that." The other woman took a step closer to Katie. "I know this is confusing, but you have to listen to him. You can't speak to anyone about me." Her eyes that had been sparkling so brightly earlier, had now caught a dull glow. "I'm sorry."

Katie looked from one to the other for a moment, before she nodded. She had so many questions, so many questions without answers, but she knew she could not ask them. Not here. Not now. Not ever.

"I understand." Her voice was weak and shaking, as she took another trembling step backwards. She nodded slowly, mostly to herself, as her eyes flickered between the two. She did not understand a thing, really, but it was best not to say. She could not ask questions.

Taking another deep, shaky breath, she quickly turned her back and hurried towards the house. She could not stay there another minute. This day had been too upsetting.

Watching Katie leave, Mitchell sighed deeply and ran a hand through his hair. This had been going great. Just great.

"Thanks, Annie", her murmured angrily and threw the ghost a quick look. "Thanks a lot." Turning on his heel and heading back towards their own house, he sighed again. He was not even sure if he was thankful or just angry. Probably both.

_Author's note: Right, another fanfic. Great, just what I needed. Haha, just kidding, I love writing, but I'm just bad at updating stuff. Anyway, this is a fanfic based on the series Being Human. I would recommend you to have at least seen the first series to be able to understand the plot. As the series contains a lot of blood and other things, this will have a T rating to be safe, if I feel like writing a scene like that sometime (Which I probably will). Anyway, I hope you will like it and that you will take your time reviewing.  
And yes, before you ask: I'm basing it on the UK series, with Aidan Turner as John Mitchell, Lenora Crichollow as Annie Sawyer and Russell Tovey as George Sands. NOT the American rip-off._


	2. Drinks & dances

**1. Drinks & dances**

Katie leaned her head in her hand as she looked down upon the paper in front of her. She was not sure what she expected to see, but she felt like the events from the day before would somehow have been noticed. She expected to see a note, somewhere in the paper, telling everyone what had happened. Telling them of the strange and terrible things she had gone through.

But of course, she realised after taking a second round through the paper, there was none. Like she knew it wouldn't be.

Downing the last of her now cold tea, she rose from the table, putting the cup in the dishwasher before leaving. Jenny and her husband, Alex, was still sleeping, and she was to sneak away before they woke.  
She had had such troubles falling asleep the night before, due to nightmares and thoughts spinning around her head. And now, this morning, she had woke at 5 am by a crying baby.

She sighed, as she pulled her coat on. However cute the couple's little 3 month old baby was, she knew she would not be able to stand living in the same house as it for long.

She had always been that way. She loved babies, of course, but she had never liked the thought of neither living in the same house as one, nor having one herself. She had a feeling that was also one of the reasons to Tom losing his patience with her. She did not want to settle down and have children.

Not yet. She was still young. She did not want to settle down and get that life everyone else wanted. Not now. She still had nine years until she was 30. She had so much time left.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she picked up her bag and headed out the door. The chilly morning air swept over her face, and she took a few deep breaths as she started down the street.

She knew one good thing with living at Jenny's house, and that was that she could now walk to work. She did not need to take the bus nor train there ever again. She could walk and enjoy the mornings and evenings.

Smiling to herself, she pushed her hands into her coat pockets and sped up her pace, totally unaware of the tall man watching her from a dark car. Not even when he got out and directed his dark, hungry eyes towards her slim body, she noticed him.

And he left her alone, like he was told to do, so she never knew he had been there at all.

"What do you say about going out tonight?" George looked towards Mitchell, where his friend stood, sorting towels for the patients. "It was ages since the last time and it's Friday after all. What do you say?"

"Well..." Mitchell shrugged his shoulders and thought for a moment, leaning against a shelf. "I suppose it couldn't hurt." He really wasn't feeling like it, but he knew that he probably was going to enjoy it when they actually went out. Like George had said, it had been a very long time since the last one.

"Brilliant!" His friend grinned widely. "Let's meet up at home and fresh up a bit, and then head out somewhere. Maybe Annie want to join, too." Mitchell smiled at this.

"I doubt it. She's not much for going out. You know, with the whole 'nobody can see me'-thing." He shrugged his shoulders, trying not to think of the events of the day before. That woman, Katie, was not someone George would have to worry about too. They were probably not even going to see her again, no matter what Annie had to say about it.

"We can at least ask her." George smiled, knowing by the thoughtful look on Mitchell's face that he was hiding something from him.

"Yeah, I suppose." Mitchell nodded, before lifting a pile of towels and preparing to leave. "I'll see you later, then." George nodded and waved towards his friend as he left. He was going to find out whatever secret there was. He knew it.

"Are you done?" Danielle jumped excitedly on the spot, as she watched her friends. Jenny was still seated by her mirror, while Katie was leaning tiredly against the wall, obviously bored.

"One more minute." Jenny pulled the lid off of her lipstick, staring at herself in the mirror while she applied it.

"You have said that for ten minutes now. Just come on." Katie sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. She was thankful for her friends wanting to come out with her, but sometimes they were slower than slugs. Especially Jenny.

She had always been the slowest, ever since they had first met in school, and it seemed marrying and becoming a mother had made her slower than ever.

"Looking good takes time, my dear friend." Jenny smiled, noticing very well how her friends rolled their eyes behind her back. "I'm just making sure I look better than you too, no matter if I'm married or not." She waved her left hand against them, the rings sparkling in the light from the lamp by the mirror.

"Oh shut up." Katie sighed, running a hand through her dark hair as she left the room. She could hear her friends continue chatting inside, while she headed down the stairs to the hall. She needed some air.

The stars sparkled brightly above her head, as she headed down the path from the house to seat herself on the low wall before it.

Autumn rested in the air, and she shivered as she sat down and pulled her coat closer around her. Wearing a dress and thin leggings had turned out not to be the best choice.

Looking over the street and all the silent buildings, her eyes found their way to the house of Annie and Mitchell. She could see people moving inside, their forms creating shadows against the light.

For a short moment, she wondered what they were doing. What was happening in their lives? Were they making dinner? Ordering pizza? Making tea? Prepare themselves to head out somewhere?

She didn't know, and her curious mind wanted her to find out. She knew it wouldn't be smart to head over there after what had happened the night before, but this was what she was about to do when the door opened.

Against the light streaming out, she could see three people stepping outside. Their voices came softly towards her where she sat, and she squinted against the dark to make them out.

Annie was easy to spot against the three, as she was the first one to step out and her voice was the first to ring out.

After her came an unfamiliar man, whom she had never seen before and that she raised her eyebrows at. She had had the feeling that Mitchell and Annie had been living alone, but with the way the unfamiliar man closed the door and waved with a set of keys, she quickly realised he must be a resident of the house too.

Next to him, came Mitchell. The tall, strange man she found herself both scared of and strangely attracted to. She knew, as soon as his eyes found their way across the street, that he saw her through the darkness and it made shivers travel down her spine.

"Hiya!" She smiled hesitantly and waved towards them. The two men nodded towards her, but did not show any other sign of seeing her, something she found both odd and rude, but Annie's face shone up with a smile and she quickly came across the street to greet her.

"Hello there." She sat herself down on the wall beside Katie, her eyes meeting those of the other woman. "How's things?" Her honest dark eyes made Katie smile back and her feeling of discomfort about Mitchell and the other man quickly sunk away.

"Everything's sort of fine, I suppose." She shrugged her shoulders, noticing in the corner of her eye how the two men had stopped, their eyes directed towards them. She supposed they were just waiting for Annie, but she could not help but to feel unsettled by it. "How about you?"

"I'm good. We are heading out to take a few drinks. Or, well, George and Mitchell are. I'm just tagging along." Annie's way of speaking, so quickly and happily, made Katie's head spin and she had to look at the other woman closely to be able to keep her focus.

"Ah, well, same here." Katie smiled quickly. "I'm just waiting for my friends. They are very slow today, by some reason." She sighed and leaned her chin in her hand.

"Well, you could always come along with us and they could come when they are done? If you don't mind?" Annie had suddenly jumped to her feet and nodded across the street. "Just send them a text or something." Her bright smile and honest expression, made it hard for Katie to refuse and after thinking for a moment, also she rose and nodded.

"Why not?" She pulled out her phone from her pocket and wrote a quick text to Jenny, telling her what was happening. She was sure they would not mind her heading away earlier.

When she looked up, Annie had already crossed the street and was talking to Mitchell and the other man, George. None of them looked very exited about her news and Katie almost regretted her choice of coming along.

But by the way Annie excitedly pulled her along down the street and spoke happily to her, she knew she was going to enjoy it. If Mitchell and George were going to be grumpy about her joining, then she was not going to pay them any attention. She had Annie until her friends came and she was happy with that. Cause Annie was nice enough.

"What is it really that you don't like about that Katie?" George leaned back in his chair and raised his eyebrows towards Mitchell. "She seems really nice and not to mention that she looks pretty good. I thought you were into that kind of people these days." He grinned towards the vampire, who frowned towards him.

"And what exactly do you want to imply by that? Do you want me to go back to killing again?" Mitchell hugged his glass tightly in his hands, clenching his teeth together at the thought.

"No, not at all. I just meant she seems like the kind of people you usually, you know... like." George was quick at realising that he had said the wrong things, and quickly emptied his glass to get an excuse to leave the table.

Watching his friend leave, Mitchell sighed deeply and ran a hand through his hair. He knew very well what George meant and knew he was right, but he did not want him to be. Katie seemed like a nice girl, of course, but he knew he could not have himself liking her. It was too risky.

Sighing again, he leaned back in his chair and let his eyes travel over the pub. It was full and dim, making it take a few seconds for him to spot Annie and Katie. They were seated by another table across the room, deep into a conversation. Katie's friends had not yet arrived and he knew that she probably must look weird to the people around her, talking to what to them was thin air.

He knew he had to do something, even though he did not want to.

"So what do you do these days?" Annie leaned her chin in her hands and watched as the other woman took a sip from her drink.

"Well, I'm a teacher. I have always been interested by writing, though and I would love to give out a book, so I'm doing a lot of writing on the side." Katie shrugged her shoulders and brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"That's amazing! I've never really had the time to actually sit down and do a lot of writing myself." Annie bit her lip in thought, as if she was thinking about if she was thinking of what she could say and not. "It's a bit of a long and complicated story."

Katie raised her eyebrows and took another sip from her drink, nodding encouragingly.

"Well, as Danielle and Jenny hasn't arrived, I have all the time in the world. So go on." She watched as Annie opened her mouth in surprise, apparently not prepared for that kind of question.

"Well... I... um." Her eyes darted quickly from side to side, as if she was looking for a way out. "I think... um..." She was about to continue, when a hand gripping Katie around the wrist and pulling her up from the table, cut her short.

"Come dance with me." Mitchell's voice was quick and harsh in her ear, as he pulled her along to the dance floor and spun her around to make her face him.

"I don't want to dance." Katie tried to pull her hands out of his grip, but he would not let her go. Instead, he pulled her close and bent down to speak in her ear.

"You should at least try to dance a little. Remember what I told you about Annie yesterday? You can't speak with her in public alone either." His dark eyes met hers and she frowned, still fighting his tight grip.

"I don't understand", she murmured, ceasing her fight as a nearby couple shot them wondering looks. She did not want to make a scene with a guy she did not even know. "Why can't I do that?"

"I can't explain and I won't do it, either. You are better off not knowing." A hint of a smile came to his lips and she stared at him in shock for a moment, trying to understand what he was actually doing. Was he trying to save her or threat her even further? She was not sure and it confused her.

"Fine." She pressed her lips together and turned her eyes away from his face. He annoyed her too much for her taste.

"I believe your friend is here." He sudden voice in her ear again and his hands loosing their grip, caused her to look up and turn around. Feeling him still behind her, her eyes searched the crowd until she found Danielle's familiar face. It only took seconds for her to realise something was wrong.

Danielle's face carried a scared expression, her eyes wide as she searched for Katie. Her hair, having been brushed to silk only an hour earlier, was now a tangled heap upon her head, as if someone had pulled at it harshly.

Her pale arms and legs was covered in bruises and smaller cuts, something Katie knew had not been there when she left her friends. She would have known it.

A feeling of nausea welled through her stomach, and she found herself gripping Mitchell's shoulder for comfort. He was stiff under her fingers, obviously uncomfortable about the turn of events, but he did not pull away. Instead, he placed a careful hand on her back to give her a light push towards her friend.

"Danielle, what has happened? Where is Jenny?" Rushing towards her friend, not noticing that Mitchell followed her closely, suddenly worried, and gripped her hands. "What's going on?"

Danielle took a shaky breath, tears rising in her eyes.

"Katie... I..." Her voice broke and she shook her head slowly. "Katie, she's dead. Jenny, Alex, the baby. They are all dead."

Katie stared at her, refusing to accept what she was hearing. How could they have died? She had left not long ago.

"How?" Her voice was no more than a whisper and tears started to fall down her cheeks, slowly and silently.

"Someone attacked us. He just came and he... he killed us. All of us." Danielle dried tears of her cheeks, a sob escaping her lips.

Her friend stared at her, not understanding. How could Danielle be dead if she was standing right before her?

"You're not dead", she whispered, hugging her friend's hands tightly. It felt almost as if she was slipping. Slipping out of her hands.

"Yes, yes I am. I'm dead, Katie and they are pulling me away. I only just had the time to get to you. They are taking me away." Before her eyes, it was as if Danielle was fading and slowly, without a noise, being pulled backwards.

"Who? Who are taking you away? What's going on?" Katie felt her voice shake and crack as she spoke, but she did not care. "Danielle?" Her lips voiced the name, but no reply came. Danielle was gone. She had vanished before her eyes.

Without actually thinking, to shocked to do anything of the sort, she felt herself bury her head in Mitchell's chest, sobs escaping her lips as she cried. She was not even sure what was happening or why she was crying into a strange guy's chest, but she was. She was and there was no stopping it.

_Author's note: Well, here's another part of a fanfic that didn't go as planned. I don't know what got to me, but I felt like this was the right thing to do. I hope you don't mind and that you still like it :) Right, so I hope you will give me some reviews and things like that. Cause I'm totally overwhelmed by the response on the first part and I'm so happy you liked it! I really hope I won't disappoint you with the rest :) x_


	3. Dead friends

**2. Dead friends**

The ally was dark, no lights could reach in there and from the street outside, you could only see a meter or two inside it.

This was the reason to why the two men had chosen this as their meeting point. They did not want to be seen nor heard and meeting in dark allies was therefore a very good plan.

"Anything new to report, Dan?" The tallest of the two lit a cigarette and took a deep drag of it as he looked at his companion.

"She hasn't been seen there since the night of the incident, Mr Gregs." The shorter had a deep accent of northern origin, making him sound more confident than he was. "Are you sure she will return? I mean, she doesn't really have any connections to 'em and she might be too frightened to return." He frowned slightly, remembering when he had last seen the young woman, being escorted with all her belongings from the house by an officer.

"Oh, believe me. She will return." Mr Gregs grinned widely, his eyes glimmering unpleasantly in the dark. "She will return and our plan will soon go into lock. She'll give us the revenge we seek. Just you wait and see." He blew out a cloud of smoke into the cold air and chuckled softly to himself, causing his companion to join in.

"This revenge has been long wanted and soon it is go." Dan grinned widely, rubbing his hands together. "I can't wait for the actual thing to start."

"Me neither, Dan, me neither." With that, Mr Gregs released another cold laugh and started to head back towards the street, followed by his friend. There was still a lot to be done.

"Right, so who wants to go on a field trip to the museum next week?" Katie sat on top of her desk, looking out over the class of exited 7-year-olds before her. "I thought it could be fun to see some real dinosaur skeletons." She beamed towards the children, ignoring the pain in her chest. It was her second day back since the death of her friends and she had to fight with every cell of her body against the urge of falling into a pile on the floor. The children had no idea about why she had been gone for almost two weeks and she was not prepared to tell them. They were too young to hear about the sight that had met her as she had returned to the house to see if the terrible thing was true.

"Are there actually real skeletons there?" A blonde boy in the front row stared at her with wide eyes, a smile growing on his lips. "Of dinosaurs? Can we touch them?" He was now showing of a big grin, making everyone see the missing teeth in the upper row.

"There are actually real skeletons, yes. However, we can't touch them." Katie pouted her lips and pretended to dry a tear from her eye, making the children giggle instead of being disappointed. "But I am going to call the professor working there today and see if he can get an actual bone from a skeleton to look at more closely. I think that then we might be allowed to touch it." She smiled widely, earning big smiles in return from the children.

"That's so cool!" Another boy clapped his hands and nudged his friend in the side to make him agree with him.

As a happy chatter started in the classroom, the bell went off out in the corridor, telling Katie that the day was finally over.

"All right then, you all." She rose from her place as they all started to pack up their stuff. "Bring these papers home for your parents to sign and bring them back on Friday, okay?" She waved with a bunch of papers. "I will see you all tomorrow." She quickly handed a copy out to every student and watched them file out, talking happily of what the afternoon would bring them.

Not until the room was empty and the door once more closed, she made herself relax. She had made it through yet another day, but it had left her drained. All she wanted now was to curl up in bed and get some sleep.

Heading back to her desk, she gathered up her things and pulled on her coat. Luckily, she did not have any assignments to go through or plan, so she would have the entire evening off. It was not often that happened, but she was always happy when it did. She needed a night to relax once in a while.

Strolling through the classroom, she adjusted the benches and chairs before turning the lights off and locking the door behind her. There was no need in staying behind when there was nothing do to there anyway. She knew her colleagues would understand why she did not hang around in the teachers' lounge as she used to. She had other things that needed to be done. Like finding an apartment.

Since her friends' deaths, she had been staying in a small hostel down the road from Jenny's house. She had not had the strength to do any effort in searching for a place to stay and she knew the woman owning the place where she lived, understood that very well. Everyone seemed to know of her loss and was not afraid to bring it up when they met her. Everywhere she went, someone recognised her from the story in the newspapers and wanted to give her their condolences. No matter if it was a businessman she had never met or an old friend from her parents' neighbourhood. Everyone did it and she hated it.

The sight in the house as she had arrived there, escorted by police and paramedics, had been the worst in her life.  
The beautiful, green door had been hanging on only one hinge, opening up to a crushed house. Pretty much everything made by glass or porcelain had been broken, and the shards had covered the floors.

The only room that had seemed untouched had been the room where she had been staying, and to the police she had quickly been suspected for the murder. To them, it seemed strange that only this room had been left untouched and that the one who had been staying there was the only one left alive.

But it did not take long for them to realise she could not have done it. After endless interviews, it was however obvious she did not had any motives for it, and her alibi had been waterproof due to the huge amount of witnesses to her being at the club. The police was therefore back on square one.

Nothing had been found in the house that could have shown upon anyone else than the four in it had been there, and this was a huge problem. No strange DNA, no fingerprints, no marks. Only blood. Blood and broken bodies.

Just the thought of her friends' scared, unseeing faces and the blood that had started to dry on their bodies and clothes made Katie want to vomit, and she knew it was something she would never be able to get out of her head. It would always be there, haunting her with the fact that she could have been one of them. She could have died with them if she had stayed behind like she had first intended. Her body would have been laying on one of the white carpets, her dark eyes unseeing staring out into space while her blood coloured everything around her red. Crimson red.

She had watched as the paramedics covered the bodies and carried them out to the awaiting cars. The entire street had been looking on, silent sobs echoing in the night as the cars with flickering lights had been standing outside the house that had been perfectly ordinary only hours earlier. Now, and forever forward, it would be the death place of Jenny, Alex and Charlie Smith, and Danielle Jones. It would be cursed and never inhabited again. Not until the case was forgotten and no one could find any new evidence inside it.

And to Katie, it would always be a place she could never again visit. She had to see it but never step inside again. The guilt was too big for her to handle.

The thoughts spun around her head like a tornado, and she had to shake her heads a number of times to make it clear.  
She was walking down that cursed street to get home, and knew it was a bad move. She had been doing every day just to remind herself and she knew that it was an unnecessary punishment to herself. She could easily have taken other roads, but every day she chose this one. The one that always made her spirit crumble and her body to shake.

Today was not exception, and she walked with her head hanging low and her eyes turned to the ground. She barely even looked up when someone called her name. Not until it was heard again, closer, did she actually look up and not even then was her eyes showing any interest.

"Hi Katie!" The beaming face of Annie was the first thing she saw, and she squeezed out a forced smile in reply.

"Hi", she murmured, her hands pushed deeply into her pockets.

"How are you holding up?" The other woman frowned and stepped forward, her dark eyes scanning her face.

"Not very well", came the reply, and Annie nodded slowly. It was the least she expected.

"I know you have heard this enough, but it will get better. I promise." She took another step closer and met Katie's gaze. She could easily see that the other did not believe her at all.

"Well, then I hope this 'get better'- part would hurry up. I'm tired of feeling like crap and having to spend every day ignoring that part of myself." Katie's voice was bitter and tired and Annie was quick at making a plan.

"Come here." She pulled her friend into a hug, which to Katie was as strange and cold as always, and murmured in her ear. "Let's get you some tea and we can see if we can figure something out. I think I know something that can help." Pulling back and gripping the other's hand, she started to lead her up to her shared house. Tea always helped broken hearts. Annie had known that for years. Even before her life turned messed up.

Katie realised as soon as she stepped through the door, that she had never had been inside Annie's house before. They had spoken a lot during the last couple of weeks and become quite good friends, but still she had never been invited in before. Annie had always spoken to her outside or they had met up somewhere else So this was the first time she got to see the house from the inside.

She had expected from the worn outside, to find the inside to be the same, but it obviously was not.

The walls was freshly painted and the floors recently cleaned. The windows was easy to look through and the stairs leading up was not crowded with a thing.

"Just feel yourself like home." Annie smiled as she headed of to the little kitchen on the right, leaving Katie alone in the hall to take off her coat and hang it up.

Pushing her hands into the pockets of her long cardigan, she turned to the left and strolled into the sparsely decorated living room. In anyone else's eyes, it might have looked empty and cold, but to Katie it was perfect. She did not like when people made their rooms crowded and she therefore found this precisely her style.

Strolling around the room, she examined the old-style TV, the little couch, the bookshelf and the different cupboards and chairs. The room clearly had a history that had made it look the way it did, but to her it did not matter much. She liked the current history of it, which she could read from the way it looked. It gave her something else to think of and she enjoyed it. For the first time in two weeks, her mind was occupied by something new and she loved it.

From the kitchen, Annie watched as Katie strolled into the living room, her body already getting more relaxed. Annie did not regret it for a moment that she had invited her friend inside. It was clear that it had helped.

Putting two tea bags into the two cups before her, and pouring the hot water over them, she smiled to herself. She had hated to see Katie so low in spirit and she was glad to be able to help. No matter what it was, she felt good about being able to do something.

Gripping the mugs and placing them on a tray together with sugar, spoons and milk, she headed out into the living room and placing it all onto the table.

"You look better already", she commented as she gave Katie her cup and watched as the other woman poured in some milk and stirred down two spoonfuls of sugar.

"I feel better, weirdly enough." For the first time, Katie felt an honest smile rise to her lips and she met Annie's gaze, a new spark in her eyes. "This place is wonderful. So homely." She sipped her tea and headed back towards the bookshelf, running her hand over the books and movies standing there.

"I'm glad you're liking it, cause I have something to offer you." Annie sipped her own tea and sat down upon the couch. "We have an extra room upstairs that we're not using and I thought that, if you want, you could have it." She shrugged her shoulders and watched as Katie turned to look at her with wide eyes. "We just have to clean it out a little and get some furniture for it, but other than that I think it would suit you very nicely."

Katie stared at her friend, the tea forgotten in her hands. What was Annie actually saying?

"I-I would love to!", she stuttered, her smile growing a little wider. "I mean, if it's not a problem, that is."

"Of course not!" Annie beamed back, ignoring the fact that Mitchell and George would probably kill her for it. Or, well, maybe not kill her. That was not much of an option, after all.

"I could pay you for it. You know, like a lodger or something. I mean, it doesn't even have to be permanent. Just until I've found something else." Katie spun her cup in her hands, trying to ignore the fact that she was rambling like a lunatic.

"I think it's enough if you just add your share to the rent and the food fund. That's how the others do it, so..." Annie shrugged her shoulders. She was not entirely sure of how it all worked as she was not really a part of it.

Katie did not seem to register the odd part in what Annie spoke of and just nodded, sipping her tea. Her excitement was bubbling inside her and she felt like jumping around like a lunatic. The sadness was still there, of course, but now she had something else to think of. Something that would make her feel a little better. At least for a while.

Sitting down on the sofa next to her friend, she warmed her hands on the cup and distantly stared around the room. She had a hard time imagining that this was to become like a home to her. That her things would have a somewhat permanent place here. It was a very strange thought. Especially seeing as her last real home had been one she had been chucked out of. She did not want the same thing to happen here. She wanted to stay here and make a new life for herself. A life she might get to share with Annie, Mitchell and George. If the two later was willing to let her in, that was.

_Author's note: Woho, another part! :) I'm really pleased with this one and I really hope that you all liked it too. I feel like this story is really promising and I hope I will have another flow of ideas so that I can be able to continue updating a little bit more frequently. However, it will depend on my current ideas and what is going on in my life. But I will do my best not to let the parts come too far apart! :) Thanks for reading and I hope you will leave me a review and tell me what you think!_


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